Recipe Exchange

 

A Spinach Ravioli Lasagna – recipe here

 

And because I had workmen at the house and it was snowing like crazy, I made some jumbo cookies for them:

Jumbo Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies – Recipe here

 

Here’s tonight’s featured recipe, I made a few adaptations  –  when I made it tonight and last week, I just used my box grater. The texture is a bit different, but I wasn’t in the mood to break out the mandoline and clean it after. And I forgot to buy plain yogurt, so I substituted mayo. Not gonna lie, it was still yummy.

Jicama Slaw

I used my mandoline slicer to julienne the jicama and the cucumber. You can use the large blade on a box shredder if you don’t have a mandoline.

Dressing:

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 

Salad:

• 3 cups shredded or julienned jicama (peeled before shredding)
• 1 English cucumber*, washed and julienned
• 1 sweet bell pepper, thinly sliced (red, orange or yellow)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tbsp chopped Italian parsley

Combine the yogurt, lime juice, cider vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper and whisk to combine. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to develop.

Combine the jicama, cucumber, sweet pepper and raisins in a large bowl and add the dressing. Toss gently but thoroughly to combine. Season with additional salt and pepper, if necessary. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Just before serving toss with walnuts and parsley.

*I like the flavor of English cucumbers and they are unwaxed so I don’t peel them and they don’t need to be seeded.  Peel waxed cucumbers if substituted.

That’s it for tonight. What gets you through the last days of winter in your kitchen?  What’s on your plate for the weekend? Also, anyone have a good rye bread recipe, I’m craving rye bread and can’t find my old recipe.

Have at it…

Opiejeanne sent me this recipe and it sounds yummy!

Almond Tart

Pastry:

• 1 Cup flour
• 1/2 Cup butter
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp water (or more, if needed)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla  (You can omit the almond extract and double the amount of vanilla)

Mix dry ingredients, cut in butter until mixture resembles cornmeal. Work in the water and extracts. Press mixture into a 9″ tart pan, chill for one hour. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes or until golden brown. A food processor may be used for mixing but be careful not to overmix.

Filling:

• 1 Cup sliced almonds
• 3/4 Cup sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract (again, you may substitute same amount of vanilla for all of the almond extract)
• 3/4 Cup heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp Grand Marnier (or orange Curacao, Hiram Walker Triple Sec, or another Orange flavored liqueur. World Market has airline size Grand Marnier so you don’t have to break the bank) I goofed one year and added a Tbsp, and it was very good.

Combine all filling ingredients. Let stand until sugar dissolves, at least 20 minutes. Pour into pre-baked shell*, return to oven and bake 30 to 40 minutes at 400 or until top is brown and the sugar has caramelized.  Serve at room temperature.

Don’t panic if the filling leaks through the cookie crust. I highly recommend that you cut a circle of parchment paper to line the bottom of the pan, and the crust will release in one piece, as long as you are gentle. Without the parchment lining, the filling that leaks through the crust will glue it to the pan and you won’t get a clean release.

* I lick the spoon after pouring the filling into the crust, as consolation that I have to wait to have a bite of the tart.

 

And finally, since I feel badly about really coming up short on this post, here’s Trixie Belle’s 11-week photo from this afternoon (I tell you that, because 4 hours have passed, she’s probably bigger already)

She’s just the sweetest thing and doing so well on her training – walking on a leash like a star, crate training is coming along (Scout would really like earplugs) and potty training is doing okay, but she has seemed to regress the last couple of days, so we’ll be focused on that this week while I have some extra time with a light workload.  More photos here if you need a fix.

Time to share your favorite sweet treats! Favorite pie? Are you a cake or cookie person? Chocolate or fruit desserts? Hit the comments.

Standing Rib Roast (recipe here)

Photo by JeffreyW

Roasted Smashed Potatoes (recipe here)

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I had a request for some easy potluck sides:

French Onion Casserole (step by step photos of recipe here)

• 2-3 tbsp of butter
• 3 large sweet onions (or 4 medium yellow onions),thinly sliced
• 8 oz shredded Swiss Cheese
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup (substitute mushroom soup for vegetarian)
• 2/3 cups milk
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• pepper
• 8 slices of French bread

skillet, shallow 2 qt casserole or baking dish (glass)

Melt butter in skillet over medium heat and add onions. Sauté until onions are translucent, a little caramelization is ok.

In baking dish, layer onions, 2/3 of the cheese and pepper to taste.

In skillet, heat milk, soup and soy sauce, stirring to blend well.

Pour soup mixture over casserole and fold in gently to mix.

Top with bread slices.

Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered for 15 minutes, bread should be brown and toasted. If not, turn oven to broil to crisp the bread (watch closely). Remove casserole, return oven temperature to 350. Push bread slices into sauce, top with remaining cheese, return to oven and bake an additional 15 -20 minutes until cheese is melted.

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I love taking Jicama Slaw to get-togethers, it is so unexpected and fresh.  Jicama Slaw (recipe here)

And finally, I make these as appetizers – they are so simple and really look great on a plate. You can prep them ahead of time and just pop them into the oven just before guests arrive.

Wild Stuffed Mushrooms (recipe here)

That should be a good start. You can access all the holiday recipes here.

Now it’s your turn, let’s share some recipes and maybe we can find something new to try this week (that’s how I got the French Onion casserole recipe).

If you celebrate, what are you cooking up for the holidays?

(BTW, this entire post was composed with 25 lb of puppy on my lap…so let me know if I missed something or something is unclear)